The Making of a Global World

Globalisation as economic term emerged in last 50 years, but

movement of trade, people/migration in search of work,
movement of capital were present in all centuries.
Silk Route
Not only items for trade reached many distant places but the
coustoms and food too. Eg spaghetti of Italy is noodles
travelled from China
Common food such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize,
tomatoes, chillies (red), sweet potatoes came from American
discovery by Columbus.
Precious metals silver and gold came from the mines located in
Peru and Mexico---El Dorado, the fabled city of gold.
Conquest of America was done not only by firepower but
biological warfare ( smallpox). In the words of John Winthorp,
governor of New England Smallpox signaled Gods blessing for
the colonists. In Africa Rinderpest, the Cattle Plague in 1890s
killed 90% of the cattle
Three types of flows within international economic
exchange
1st -- Cloth or wheat
2nd Migration of people in search of employment
3rd Capital for short or long term investments over long
distance.

Case study of India; agriculture: canals to get cotton, wheat, indigo,

timber, rubber; railways; forests laws to get labour, minerals: coal and
iron.
Role of Technology
Railways, steamships and telegraph , refrigerated ships
Indentured labour
Case study of Caribbean islandsTrinidad, Guyana and Surinam
New system of Slavery
In Trinidad the annual Muharram procession was transformed into a
riotous carnival called Hosay. In which workers of all races and
religions joined.
The protest religion of Rasta-farianism made famous by Jamaican
reggae star Bob Marley.
Chutney music popular in Trinidad and Guyana is another example.
VS Naipaul novel capture the sense of loss and alienation. Also for
Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan.
The word coolies
Fortunes for Indian Bankers:- Shikaripuri Shroffs / NattuKottai
Chettiars / Hyderabadai Sindhi
World between the Two Wars
Mass Production and Consumption Eg. A well known pioneer of mass
production was car manufacturer Henry Ford. T- Model Ford. Mass
production lowered the costs and prices of engineered goods. Thanks
to higher wages more people could now afford to purchase durable

consumer goods such as cars. Hire purchase(i.e.,on credit repaid in

weekly or monthly instalments)

The Great Depression 1929-1930s

Worldwide impact
The famous economist John Maynard Keynes thought that Indian gold
exports promoted global economic recovery. They certainly helped
speed up Britains recovery, but did little for the Indian peasants. Rural
India was in unrest when Mahatma Gandhi launched the CivilDisobedience movt. at the height of the depression in 1931.
The Post War Era
The war caused an immense amount of economic devastation and
social disruption.
Economists and politicians drew two key lessons: An Industrial society based on mass production cannot be sustain
without mass consumption.
A countrys economic links with the outside world.

United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in July

1944 at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire, USA. It established IMF
to deal with external surpluses and deficits of its member nations.
The International Bank for Reconstructions and Development
World Bank was set up to finance post war reconstruction.
Sometimes referred as Bretton Woods twins.

The Bretton Woods system inaugurated an era of unprecedented

growth of trade and incomes for the Western industrial nations
and Japan.
These developed countries of 1950-60s organized in G-77 to
demand a new international economic order (NIEO). Which means
better access for natural resources, fairer prices, manufactured
goods and market.
This also marked end of Woods system and beginning of
Globalisation. 1970s saw the era of MNCs shift of production
houses in low wage Asian countries.